We're Leaving our Shadows Behind
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: Sapphire believed all her life that she was the only one that possessed a heart like this, one carved from a gemstone and step into her chest. Part 3 of the sometimes the stars seem closer than they should series.
1. even dust was made to settle

**A/N: Title and chapter titles from Sleeping at Last's "The Projectionist."**

**This fic is standalone. It contains some references from Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart, movie and book.**

For as long as Sapphire could remember she had a heart that was set outside of her chest. It was not a flesh and blood heart but rather a heart that was carved out of a ruby, a warm thing that she was told to keep hidden with her clothes. She did not know how she gained this heart because she was not allowed to tell her father about it and any questions she brought to her mother were met with dismissive answers; that she was the only person in the world with a heart like this so nobody could ever know.

So she stopped asking and made up stories about it; that there was a witch outside her hometown of Silverkeep, a witch that would give her a heart that stayed inside her chest and with little price attached to it. Or that a heart-eating dragon had stolen her real heart and her mother had to replace it with one of the dragon's coveted gems. Sapphire would have to train and get back her heart from the dragon's stomach that had many chambers to store precious things so that her real heart wasn't digested.

She clung to these as she got older, not out of a true belief of them but because she didn't have anything else to turn to. But the fact that she got older was in her favor because when Sapphire was thirteen she was finally able to leave her opulent home and go into town with her father.

It was at this time that Sapphire's mother pulled her aside and told her that before she was born that there was another well-off family on the other side of Silverkeep that her family had a feud with. Sapphire was told that this family had no children so there was no danger of bullies but she was to close her ears at any rumors some of the people would whisper.

Sapphire had nodded at this and went with her father to the town. There were only a few whispers or glances and she couldn't help but listen in to this whisper; that her family was the prime suspect in chasing out another family out of town, though for what nobody knew.

It was then that she looked up at her father and noticed the hard glare on his face. She looked in the direction his gaze was set and saw a woman perusing wares. Sapphire put a hand to her mouth and breathed.

This woman had a clock where her heart was.

Sapphire could not say anything because her father roughly grabbed her wrist and yanked her past the woman. Sapphire tried to steal another glance at the woman but was not able to. Her father pulled her far away from the woman, looked over his shoulder and then looked at Sapphire with that same, steely gaze.

"You saw her," he said. "I didn't want you anywhere near that _freak_. Do you understand?"

Sapphire could do nothing but nod. At the end of the day, when she returned home, she asked her mother about the woman with the clock heart, adding on that she thought she was the only one without an organic heart.

"In the sense of it being a _gem_ heart," her mother said curtly. "And your father is right."

Sapphire earned a story about a boy long, long ago that had injured his classmate badly and intentionally because of his clock heart. She decided at the end of the story not to tell her mother about the rumor she heard in town.

But when she was trying to sleep that night the thought of that family running away from the town stuck with her. She wondered where they lived now and if she could find them. She would apologize for what had happened.

Not long after her first, and as it turned out only, trip to the town Sapphire's father had gone to a place called Acomb. Sapphire asked her mother for the reason but did not get an answer.

When he returned her father gave her an eye patch as a present. Sapphire did not question this, and put on the eye patch. The cord was tight against her head and the rough cloth left rough marks on her skin but Sapphire still wore it. It made her happy that her father thought of her.

She would yearn to ask to go out to the town with him again but she didn't want to risk seeing someone like the woman with the clock heart again. It was better, Sapphire told herself, if he didn't see someone like that again. It made her stomach churn when she remembered the venom in his voice when he saw that woman.

She wondered what her father's reaction would be if he found out about her heart.

That was something Sapphire pushed out of her mind. She smothered that thought by reading, books that were in a bookshelf in her parents' room. As time went on she had read all of them and looked for something else to do.

Sapphire wouldn't ever leave her house but she did find a small hole in the far back of the kitchen pantry, where she could see a little of outside there. Sapphire would quietly go down to the kitchen and push on the wood that created that hole. It eventually got big enough that Sapphire could wriggle outside. She went back inside because she wasn't going to leave. But she still put a big plank of wood to conceal the hole.

She was still restless and so for her sixteenth birthday Sapphire asked if her parents could hire a tutor; someone her age, someone that knew about the world and could be her friend. She did run out of material to read, after all, and she wanted to keep her mind occupied.

Sapphire's parents conceded and within a few days found a tutor for Sapphire. This tutor was Sapphire's age and on the first day carried a huge pile of books into the study room.

"My name is Ruby," she said behind the tower of books, and Sapphire went to help her. She gave her name as she took some of the books down.

"Where are you from?" Sapphire asked as they went to the table.

"Hirane town," Ruby replied. "It's pretty far from Silverkeep. I was here researching."

"Researching what?" Sapphire asked as they put the books down on the table.

"Ah, the stones," Ruby said a little too quickly. She cleared her throat and tried to grab one of the books, but her hand brushed against the top one too fast and the small pile of books slid over. "Aah, stupid-"

"It's okay." Sapphire put the books in their proper place and took one at random. She was taught about how to make paper and it was the most exciting reading she had in a long time.

Weeks turned into months and Sapphire was asking if Ruby could come over to teach earlier and earlier. Sapphire would learn a little about Ruby each time, such as the fact that her family lived all over the world and that her intermediate family looked at many towns before settling down in Hirane. Ruby told her stories about visits to the beach in Ship Haven, a traveling troupe that started in Amberway or the food in Woolhope that was warm and practically melted in your mouth.

Sapphire wanted to ask her if she had ever seen a woman with a clock heart.

Before she could do so Ruby suddenly grabbed at a book, opened it, and pointed at a passage. She read it out loudly, "The farmer raised his weary head to the sky. 'It's not rosy outside looking in,' he said with a cracked voice,'" and she continued down the passage.

Ruby's eyes flickered to the door, and there were faint footsteps. "Somebody was listening," Ruby whispered.

Sapphire drew her arms around herself. She had a sinking suspicion it was her mother; her father had gone out to town earlier. "I'm sure it's okay. Let's continue reading that."

"No, no, it's," Ruby's voice was catching, "It's that, it's… Well, I trust you. I trust you."

Ruby took in a breath and continued in a hushed voice, "The truth is that my family used to live in Silverkeep. And we were chased out because…"

She didn't go on. Sapphire wordlessly unbuttoned her jacket and pulled at the fabric to show her heart. Ruby was silent, motionless for a few seconds, and slowly mirrored Sapphire's actions.

There was a deep blue colored gem where Ruby's heart should've been.


	2. and it makes us brave again

Sapphire raised her hand and then drew it back. Her mouth was agape and she couldn't find her breath. Her thoughts crashed together and her voice strangled out, "You have to leave. You aren't safe here."

"What about you?" Ruby's voice cut through the panic and Sapphire found that she could move, and she began to gather up the books.

"Only my mother knows," Sapphire said. She hugged the books to her chest, a mantra of _liar, liar, liar_, playing in her head. She shoved the books to Ruby and ran to the door, yanking it open and looking wildly around. She didn't see her mother anywhere.

"Sapphire," Ruby said, "I'll be okay, I didn't, I thought that your family wasn't-"

"I'm sorry," Sapphire blurted out. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what my family did."

"Don't apologize," Ruby replied, her voice a soothing calm. "It's not your fault."

Sapphire looked out the door again and strode to Ruby. "Please, you have to go."

"Come with me," Ruby said. Her voice was pleading.

Sapphire did not answer. Her hands went to her hair and she pulled on it; there was too much of it, it was confining and choking her.

"Sapphire," Ruby's voice was low. "Hirane is so much bigger than Silverkeep. And I will be all over the world. Your parents won't find me."

Sapphire breathed. She let go of her hair and nodded. She pulled on Ruby's hand and guided her to the front door, her every nerve jumping at the possibility that her mother was near.

Before Ruby slipped away she said, "If you want to come with me I will be at the train station in the morning."

Sapphire nodded, half so that Ruby would just go. The door closed quietly but it was like a final omen.

After Ruby left Sapphire ran to her room and locked the door. She did not come out for anything, not even the order to come for dinner. Before she knew it night had fallen. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. Sapphire's thoughts were a storm, asking why her mother had lied about hearts, what her father would say about everything and why Ruby's family had been chased out.

The last one she could piece together. There was no witch or dragon, only the mystery of how this heart was set into her chest. If there was a rivalry between her family and the other's then perhaps her family wanted to brag about their baby with a sapphire heart just as her name.

And perhaps there was a mistake, a miss up with the hearts. And the arrogance made her family chase out Ruby's and keep Sapphire away from the town.

Her head stormed with anger now and the anger did not fade when she woke up from fitful sleep. The sun was rising, and Sapphire sat up. She curled her hands into fists and strode to her vanity. She gave a hard look at the mirror, her ruby heart visible and the eye patch and her hair that was so long.

Sapphire ripped open her vanity drawers and her hand groped around. She found a pair of scissors and opened them. She stared at the mirror for what felt like an eternity and then she pulled off the eye patch. She opened the scissors and closed them over her long bangs. The hair fell to the floor.

Sapphire took a fistful of hair and cut it, the teeth of the scissors gagging on a few fistfuls but she forced them to close. When she was done there were clumps of hair around her feet and what was left of her hair fell only to her chin in a haphazard, jagged bob.

She brushed away the stray strands of hair and knew what she wanted to do. Sapphire slowly opened her door and made her way to the kitchen.

She ran through the town, trying to find the train station. At the edge of town she could see a platform and Sapphire raced to it.

She was at the platform and saw Ruby standing there. Ruby turned at the sound of Sapphire's shoes in the concrete. Sapphire saw the horror and confusion on Ruby's face, and Sapphire felt Ruby's hands clasp her shoulders.

"What happened, did they do this to you?" Ruby's voice was a mixture of worry and anger and Sapphire found that she could only say one thing.

"Take me with you."

It was silent. Then Ruby drew her into a hug, and held Sapphire close. When they drew away Ruby held onto Sapphire's hand until the train pulled into the station.

They settled into a seat together. They did not know what path the future held but they would walk it together.

**A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on July 29 2017 – August 3 2017**

**Thank you for reading this.**


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